Lost and Found Andy approaches these races with one thing in mind. Explore new lands yet uncharted. I think he and Rich should always stick together. Rich will get him to the end, but then again, there won't be those spontaneous discoveries that make life so interesting. He went off on some adventure along the Iceman trail this year with the same group of guys he was with at Ironcross. Ironic that they found each other again in two separate races so far from one another, but it does happen.
In the Ironcross, he wandered away with these guys into far off trails that were yet undiscovered in a world where we think everything's been found and there's no new path to explore. But Andy has proven that wrong twice--no, three times now-- within a month. He also wandered into the final Jolly Pumpkin race after we were under way because he'd decided on the way to take the short cut through Black Woods Pond and got all twisted around on their trails leading to nowhere.
There are places in America that Amerigo Vespucci and Lewis & Clark left off the map and Andy has now ventured deep into the underbrush to ferret them out. But these places aren't where you'd expect they'd be. They're here, right here, in the second wave pioneer areas of our great land where those very same pioneers padded through on their way to grow corn in Iowa, make dust in Kansas, and push on to Yuma where they'd identify key areas for terrific movie backdrops of silhouetted cowpokes perched among panoramic vistas of red rock mesas later to be zapped by dune buggies leaping them for those cool photo shots of VW undercarriages flying toward the sun. But they passed through too quickly and left small passages of unexplored trails and gravel back roads untouched by human bike tires and it's been Andy's mission to delve into the belly of these virgin territories. Miraculously, in the isolated terrain between Kalkaska and Traverse City, he found one again. A lost trail amidst carefully charted quiet areas and roads carved out by oil derricked four-door pickup trucks. Areas where even the X's weren't placed to indicate his strayed direction. And in his frustration amidst his small cadre of wandering pedallers, he'd jump off the bike to stab at his tire with a multi-tool, forgetting that he still needed that tire to get him home once he did find the path with the red arrows. His fellow riders told me about this. Andy doesn't remember. He'll talk about changing the tire, but not about stabbing it. If you mention the stabbing, he'll change the subject to archeology. Worse, after all his wandering he still pulled in an excellent time of 1:48:00. I want to get lost and do that well.
Humility Wasted And there's Wendy Caldwell of Bendy and Wen fame, who spends all year riding to and from anywhere all the time day and night ice rain sleet snow sun and sweat, who decides that this year she's going to turn on the turbo on a 27 mile cold morning and take third in her Expert category. I saw her at the beginning cheering me on as we all tried to stay warm before our heats ripped into the course. I had to pry the result out of her at the Resort the night of the awards. Doesn't anyone understand the joy of gloating when you hit the podium? It's validation that all of the year's effort amounted to something. You brag, you jump up and down, you let the finger point in your direction for the right reason for a change.
At the end of the first day of cyclocross at Vets Park, she said okay, that's enough of that and decided to spend the next day on the Poto on her MTB instead of putting herself through the hell once more that is Vets. Very smart move and I wish I would have joined her, because my legs were toast after--no, during--that race and I'm not sure they ever recovered for another blast of intensity that came a week later at Iceman.
Funny Looking Bikes
And I haven't seen Ben much at all since the early part of the Jolly Pumpkin CX series. I've been racing my tail off and I don't know what he's been doing, but then he showed up at Iceman with a cyclocross bike. We warmed up together the night before the race on the last five miles of the course and he was all spunk and energy. I thought he was half nuts for taking a CX bike out in this race, but later that evening, Mike Belanger showed up with two weapons of mass destruction, his MTB and his CX bike, and he, too, decided on the CX. That's him in the photo.
Both Ben and Mike proved (along with the fact that they are both nuts) what a wise decision that was, especially with all the moisture we'd had recently and then the rain overnight before the race. It made the sand a near non-issue. In a race that's about hauling all out, they hauled and then some, putting in some serious times at the 1:47:00 mark. There must have been a few hairy moments on some of the rough, sandy descents, but there were so few of those areas that whatever they lost in time on those spots they more than made up for on the hardpack roads.
Revenge of the Hairless Arctic Dog
And then there's Riggs. Nothing is more annoying in the world than making Dave suffer all through the fall like a hairless Arctic dog on the Tuesday DirtHammer rides and then he comes in to the Iceman, grumbling about how he's still out of shape, laying down a time that is nearly identical to my own. It's wrong. It means that the world is out of sync. But you know, Dave's done it before, did it this time, and my guess is he'll do it again.
Mighty Good Moment One nice thing though, was coming across Dave Meyers on the trail and he had an urn on his back filled with Big Chain Blend Mighty Good Coffee. I'm sure it wasn't easy racing with that hunk of metal strapped to his upper lumbar, but man was it good and rejuvenating to grab a cup he handed over, take a big swig and feel the energy explode through the body. I don't think I would have broken 2 hours without it.
Trout and Stream
Once I plopped my timing chip into one of the official's hands and was happily greeted by Mike, we wandered into Jim James who looked like he'd already showered and was ready for a day out to celebrate. He'd won his division at about 1:40 or so, and since his heat started five minutes ahead of mine that meant he'd been hanging around for about twenty minutes before I'd arrived, so he'd had all kinds of time to recuperate, clean up, have a brew, write the second violin part for a quartet composition, and smile that Jim James smile. How can he race that fast? I am so glad that they split up the 45+ from the 50+ because I can't race that fast and he sets the bar way too high.
And to add a few more known usual suspects to the list, there's Jason Lummis, who blasted through the afternoon pro race at around 1:31:00 (which, if I can point out the less than obvious, many of us could have done because these guys don't have to deal with slower riders from heats that were in front of you. I mean, really, my time would have been cut by at least 25 minutes if I didn't have some of those pokey guys on the singletrack. At least 25.) And Marne Smiley who pulled in a 12th spot in the pro-women's race. Vince Roberge at 1:34:00, who also raced a CX bike, in the pro race. Raffy Kronenberg pulled in a 9th place in his youthful category.
Putting a Spin on Things
And then there was Charles Reynolds, who thought that he might just blow off Iceman after a fall of struggling to get his legs to find their place in the sun. Good sense brought him back into the fold of the cold north woods and he and his spinnie legs wound that singlespeed into an exact time of 2 hours dead on to get 11th in his category, proving that he's one of the most balanced athletes I've ever met. He actually works out in ways that balance his whole body, unlike so many of us bikers who have lower bodies way out of proportion to our upper.
The Haul
So that was the Iceman for another year. It was extreeeeeemly fast this time. The energy is like no other race because for many it's the last race of the year and it's hard enough and long enough and fast enough and cold enough and rolly enough to take the legs to a level of pain that will send you off into the fall and winter knowing that you did something good for your soul. There are a lot of people in this race and the energy remains at a high level of buzz all the way through the finish and on into the afternoon semi-pro race. You'd have to scrape real deep to find anything resembling a bad vibe within five miles of this place.
And the lottery's a thing of the past. Hallelujah!
Andy Redux
We just have to keep Andy somewhere in sight so he doesn't end up missing the next season all together. He might just wander off like our old yellow lab used to do, and end up in some pick-up fetch game in a park five miles away and forget about us. If you do find him (Andy that is) out there, keep him fed, keep him distracted, and call Alicia. She's probably wondering where he got off to.
Photos
Except for one or two shots, they have little or nothing to do with Iceman or biking. I do know that. I had my camera with me, but while I was racing I took not one shot. Before the race I'm too wound up to shoot photos. After the race I held a beer in my hands rather than a camera. On the drive up, however, I did take some photos. I took a couple of Mike and our cabin after the race. I took a few the day after as I left town. The tank is in the metropolis of South Boardman, not too far from Kalkaska. The barren landscapes, old house and oil derricks are between US-127 and a town named Sharon that only exists on a map. The old car is in Buckley. By the way, snow came down pretty heavily the morning after our race.
A FEW SELECTED RESULTS
Pro/Semi Pro Men
1 Jeremiah Bishop 35 Harrisonburg VA Trek/volkswagen 1:28:31 2 Brian Matter 61 Sheboygan WI Gear Grinder 1:28:38 3 Mike Anderson 32 Alpena MI Bell's Beer 1:28:44 4 Colin Cares 42 Colorado Sprin CO Kenda 1:28:50 5 Andy Schultz 78 Durango CO Kenda - Titus - Haye 1:28:53 6 Marko Lalonde 58 Madison WI Gary Fisher 29er Cre 1:29:01 7 Michael Simonson 80 Oxford MI Trek/volkswagen 1:29:26 8 John Doyle 45 Mattawan MI Priority Health 1:30:58 9 Jason Lummis 60 Pinckney MI Bells Brewery/ Quiri 1:31:05 10 Chris Peariso 67 Amherst WI Adventure 212 /titus 1:31:06 22 Vince Roberge 73 Redford MI South Lyon Cycle 1:34:01 27 Zach McBride 62 Comstock MI Priority Health 1:36:09
Expert Men 15-18 9 Rafael Kronenberg Ann Arbor MI Mmba 2:00:12
Expert Men 30-34 7 Andrew Weir Ann Arbor MI Priority Health 1:48:00
Expert Men 35-39 38 Bill Mayer Ann Arbor MI Mmba 1:54:47 43 Dave Riggs Ann Arbor MI City Bike Shop 1:55:28 44 Joshua Neider Ann Arbor MI Trails Edge 1:55:52
Expert Men 40-44 10 Ben Caldwell Whitmore Lake MI Kenda 1:47:05
Expert Men 45-49 1 Jim James Ann Arbor MI 1:40:08 9 Michael Belanger St. Clair Shor MI 1:47:24 13 Keith Riege Lake Orion MI Paint Creek Bicycles 1:50:33 20 Mark Caswell New Hudson MI South Lyon Cycle 1:53:17 28 Clark Kent Lapeer MI 1:59:57 Even Superman has days that are less than stellar. (Sorry, Clark, you must have to put up with this kind of crap all the time.)
Expert Men 50-54 9 Rob Pulcipher Ann Arbor MI Priority Health 1:55:15
Sport/Expert Clydesdales 6 Ray Dybowski Waterford MI Wolverine Sports Clu 1:50:54
Singlespeed Men 40+
11 Charles Reynolds Ann Arbor MI 2:00:00 15 Tim Storm Warren MI MacOmb Bike & Fitnes 2:01:42 18 Jason Aric Jones Dexter MI Bell's Brewery/quiri 2:02:02
Sport Men 44-46 10 Eric Michielssen Ann Arbor MI 2:06:08
Pro/Semi Pro Women 1 Amanda Carey Victor ID Kenda 1:45:45 2 Susan Stephens Harrow ON Brodie Bikes 1:47:45 3 Heather Irmiger Boulder CO Gary Fisher - Subaru 1:47:46 4 Lulibelle Webb Dimondale MI Hagerty 1:50:51 5 Erin Vicary White Lake MI Bell's Beer / Quirin 1:51:41 6 Susan Schubel Saginaw MI 1:51:54 7 Amanda Sproat Columbus OH Gary Fisher 29er Cre 1:52:35 8 Nicole Borem Warsaw IN Drt Racing 1:52:42 9 Danielle Musto Grand Rapids MI Kenda 1:52:43 10 Karey Collins Oxford MI Team Giant - Michiga 1:55:17 11 Shari Versluis Grand Rapids MI Founders Racing 1:56:55 12 Marne Smiley Ann Arbor MI Scott Bikes 1:58:09
Expert Women 35-44 3 Wendy Caldwell Whitmore Lake MI Kenda 2:14:44
